How Sunny Anderson Adds A Professional Touch To Boring Frozen Pizza

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While some are better than others right out of the box, there are fairly simple ways to improve on the average (sometimes boring) store-bought frozen pizza. You can transform your frozen pizza crust by simply brushing it with a bit of butter or oil. And one super simple way to upgrade frozen pizza is by adding a bit of fresh lemon juice or lemon zest. However, for a multi-ingredient gourmet upgrade, we can turn to Sunny Anderson, co-host of Food Network's "The Kitchen" and New York Times best-selling author of "Sunny's Kitchen." Anderson is beloved for her reimagining of store-bought prepared foods and packaged ingredients to make something downright epicurean.

In a post on her Instagram profile, Anderson details her favorite way to take a basic frozen pepperoni pizza to the next level. While it does require a number of ingredients, they can either be prepped ahead of time and ready to go in the fridge or simply sliced and drizzled right on top of the pizza. Anderson's upgrade calls for roasted garlic cloves, fresh hot peppers, cherry tomatoes, dried oregano, garlic olive oil, a bit of black pepper, grated Parmesan, fresh basil, and some hot honey at the end. Anderson pulls her fresh ingredients directly from the garden, but if you don't have everything on hand, you can use just some of the ingredients and it will still be a solid upgrade.

If you need some help on choosing a trustworthy base, Chowhound's ranking of the best frozen pizzas can be of some help, although Sunny Anderson declines to name the brand of the frozen pizza she used in her video because she feels this hack can be worked with any frozen pepperoni pizza. Perhaps the most important ingredient in this pizza upgrade is the roasted garlic. In her post, she recommends covering peeled cloves with olive oil and baking for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees Fahrenheit. They will come out tender and flavorful, full of umami goodness but much less pungent than raw. For more flavor, you can add some thyme and rosemary. This preparation will not only give you wonderfully roasted garlic, but a delicious olive oil that's perfect to drizzle on your pizza or use as a simple condiment on fresh bread or pasta.

Anderson places a whole roasted clove of garlic under each slice or two of pepperoni, then adds sliced hot peppers, quartered cherry tomatoes, and some dried oregano before cooking the pizza. If you don't have cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced larger tomatoes will work great, just be sure that the pizza isn't so loaded with tomatoes that it becomes overly moist as it cooks. Alternatively, you can add sliced tomatoes after it comes out of the oven, so they'll release less moisture and not waterlog the crust. When it comes out of the oven, Anderson likes to add some grated Parmesan, fresh basil, and a bit of Mike's Hot Honey. The result is full of flavor elements that will take your tastebuds for a ride. And, no need to go full-Anderson: You can give it a go with what you have on hand, and your frozen pizza will still be upgraded from basic crispy, pepperoni-topped cracker to a beautiful meal.